Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Isolationism
On energy, the UK presidency of the European Union thinks a global solution is needed (see update below).
However finding a solution to the growing dissatisfaction with global trade is an even greater priority, the UK's Chancellor suggested to a trade union conference yesterday. He cannot be serious (copyright J McEnroe).
An article in today's Herald sets out the problem:
"The strategy pursued by successive governments for the past 20 years of relying on services for economic growth is over. We've got to start making things again. . . Britain has allowed manufacturing to shrink to less than 17% of GDP. Since [1997], a million jobs have disappeared in manufacturing and British exports have evaporated. We have higher trade deficits than ever – more than £5bn in July. Manufacturing industry has been allowed to wither on the vine as Britain built a false economy based on complacency, services and inflated house prices. Scotland's manufacturing exports have crashed by 27% since 2001 and 100,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared."
But the UK is very interconnected globally. And, even if it wasn't, there's little political will internationally - at present - to discontinue, or split, the European Union - let alone the global economy.
Disputes over global economics - such as the ongoing Doha Development trade talks, the impartiality of the United Nations - are temporary hitches that are put into perspective by this article.
"Three years ago, President Bush warned the UN that it would become "irrelevant" unless it took action against Iraq. The world body declined to endorse the 2003 invasion, but, far from making it irrelevant, Mr Bush has returned to it time and again to seek diplomatic cover for the subsequent occupation and America's plans for the political transition. Its strength drained by the Iraqi insurgency, the Administration has curbed its unilateralist swagger and discovered some benefits in pursuing a more co-operative foreign policy at the UN."
Update on a global solution to energy:
On energy, the UK presidency of the European Union thinks a global solution is needed. In this connection, the former chief of staff at the US state department commented at the New American Foundation on 19 October 2005. Larry Wilkerson said:
"The other thing that no one ever likes to talk about is SUVs and oil and consumption and, as one little girl said yesterday at the Yoshiyama Awards, do you know that we consume 60 percent of the world’s resources? We do; we consume 60 percent of the world’s resources. Well, we have an economy and we have a society that is built on the consumption of those resources. We better get fast at work changing the foundation – and I don’t see us fast at work on that, by the way, another failure of this administration, in my mind – or we better be ready to take those assets. We had a discussion in policy planning about actually mounting an operation to take the oilfields in the Middle East, internationalize them, put them under some sort of U.N. trusteeship and administer the revenues and the oil accordingly. That’s how serious we thought about it."
However finding a solution to the growing dissatisfaction with global trade is an even greater priority, the UK's Chancellor suggested to a trade union conference yesterday. He cannot be serious (copyright J McEnroe).
An article in today's Herald sets out the problem:
"The strategy pursued by successive governments for the past 20 years of relying on services for economic growth is over. We've got to start making things again. . . Britain has allowed manufacturing to shrink to less than 17% of GDP. Since [1997], a million jobs have disappeared in manufacturing and British exports have evaporated. We have higher trade deficits than ever – more than £5bn in July. Manufacturing industry has been allowed to wither on the vine as Britain built a false economy based on complacency, services and inflated house prices. Scotland's manufacturing exports have crashed by 27% since 2001 and 100,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared."
But the UK is very interconnected globally. And, even if it wasn't, there's little political will internationally - at present - to discontinue, or split, the European Union - let alone the global economy.
Disputes over global economics - such as the ongoing Doha Development trade talks, the impartiality of the United Nations - are temporary hitches that are put into perspective by this article.
"Three years ago, President Bush warned the UN that it would become "irrelevant" unless it took action against Iraq. The world body declined to endorse the 2003 invasion, but, far from making it irrelevant, Mr Bush has returned to it time and again to seek diplomatic cover for the subsequent occupation and America's plans for the political transition. Its strength drained by the Iraqi insurgency, the Administration has curbed its unilateralist swagger and discovered some benefits in pursuing a more co-operative foreign policy at the UN."
Update on a global solution to energy:
On energy, the UK presidency of the European Union thinks a global solution is needed. In this connection, the former chief of staff at the US state department commented at the New American Foundation on 19 October 2005. Larry Wilkerson said:
"The other thing that no one ever likes to talk about is SUVs and oil and consumption and, as one little girl said yesterday at the Yoshiyama Awards, do you know that we consume 60 percent of the world’s resources? We do; we consume 60 percent of the world’s resources. Well, we have an economy and we have a society that is built on the consumption of those resources. We better get fast at work changing the foundation – and I don’t see us fast at work on that, by the way, another failure of this administration, in my mind – or we better be ready to take those assets. We had a discussion in policy planning about actually mounting an operation to take the oilfields in the Middle East, internationalize them, put them under some sort of U.N. trusteeship and administer the revenues and the oil accordingly. That’s how serious we thought about it."
# posted by IJ @ 1:54 AM 
